1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus including a panel which is rotatably provided in its main body, and a retention mechanism which retains the panel at a predetermined rotation angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as electronic apparatuses having a panel, there have been printers, scanners, copy machines, facsimile machines, and the like.
It is assumable that the panel is operated either from the upper side of the apparatus or from the front side of the apparatus. Therefore, if the panel is directed to the apparatus upper side, the operability from the front side becomes bad. On the other hand, if the panel is directed to the apparatus front side, the operability from the upper side becomes bad. In order to solve this problem, such a panel is proposed as is rotatably provided in the apparatus main body, and is capable of posture change to face to an arbitrary direction between the apparatus upper side and the apparatus front side. In electronic apparatuses provided with such panel, there is provided a so-called tilt mechanism, i.e., a mechanism capable of retaining the panel in a predetermined posture.
Many tilt mechanisms are provided with a lock mechanism for retaining the panel in a predetermined posture. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133243 discloses an apparatus provided with a mechanism which locks the panel in a predetermined posture by causing a claw member provided on the panel to engage with a recess provided in the main body.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133243 is provided with a biasing means such as a coil spring or the like to bias the claw member toward a direction in which the claw member engages with the recess. By virtue of this, the panel is maintained in a predetermined posture. Further, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133243 disengages the claw member from the recess against the biasing force of the biasing means by pressing a pressure member provided on the panel.